Glycerine
by DearJanuary
Summary: Drake has never been very good at a lot of things, sharing only being one of them.
1. Stand By Me Part One

Chapter One: Stand By Me

_Author's Note: I know I just started Wine Red, but I like to have more than one project on the go. I have not forgotten about Wine Red, I love that story dearly and have ideas for it._

Chapter One: Stand By Me

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Drake & Josh or anything affiliated with it. However, I do own up the made ups of Pem and the Skinner family.**

Racing up the stairs like an athlete training for the Olympics, Drake slammed his bedroom door behind him causing the walls of his room to rumble. He was still fuming from his argument with Josh while he stomped around and smashed down on the couch to try and strum the anger out of his system.

"Don't slam the door on me!" Josh tossed the door behind him and listened for the bang. He huffed over to Drake and pulled the guitar by it's neck out of his brother's hand. "I'm not done!"

"I am." Drake reached for it back and then sat back down on the couch.

"This isn't fair, Drake." Josh whined. "You don't even like Math. If you join the Mathletes, you're just doing it to get to Kim. I want to do it!" Drake snorted a laugh at the sound of that. "I want this to go on my resume."

"You know what, Josh, that hurts me." Very dramatically, Drake proclaimed. He rested his guitar next to him and rubbed the right side of his chest assuming that's where his heart was located. "Maybe, I'm tired of being the awesome one. Perhaps, I, too, want to be an intellest."

"Intellect." Josh corrected him.

"You get the point." Drake waved his hand in the air.

"Okay, clearly, I'm not going to get any sleep." Pulling her head off of her best friend's pillow, Pem Skinner yawned while balancing her body weight on her two arms and climbing down from Drake's bed. "Drake, did you honestly say you want to an intellect with a straight face?" Tired from a long day at school, Pem rubbed her eyes while making her way to the couch where she collapsed next to her friend.

"No, he said he wanted to be an intellest, actually." Josh rolled his eyes, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Drake, why do you want to join the Mathaletes?"

"Well, there's this girl…" His whole face lit up, his brown eyes jumping from his face as he turned all his attention on his best friend.

"As there always is."

"Her name's Kim and she's not like all the other girls."

Pem nodded her head with an amused smile plain and clear on her face.

"They never are." She commented. Pem had heard this from Drake a million times over. They'd been best friends since daycare. Pem's mom ran a daycare through their house and Drake always ended up staying till after dinner since Audrey couldn't pick him up. Even though Pem went to school across town, the two remained closer than Velcro straps. With dark brown features, the two were either mistaken for a couple or twins.

"She's so hot, Pem, like, you don't even know." Drake shot his legs up and rested them on the table, shutting his eyes while envisioning his latest conquest.

"And she's a Mathalete?" She tried to follow along, her eyes beginning to slug down again.

"Yes!" Josh piped in from behind them where he had his textbooks opened on his bed. "And I want to be on the team because it would set my application apart, Drake just wants to get on to get with Kim."

"A noble goal." Pem chuckled while patting her best friend on the shoulder. "Well, no offence, Drake, but Josh, you're all about academics, you have nothing to worry about. They'll put you on the team for sure." Pem attempted to calm the storm.

"Not so much, Belleview's a little different then St. Christopher's Academy." Josh chimed in, rushing over to sit on the other side of Pem, who was falling asleep. "Greg Belton just transferred school, so there's an opening on the team, they're just taking whoever shows interest first."

"Then, you two will have to race to school." Pem shrugged her shoulders.

"That's what I said." Drake nodded along with Pem's suggestion while going back to playing guitar.

"That's not fair! There's no way I'd beat Drake, he's faster."

"Exactly." Drake cackled.

Josh stared down at Pem's small pale face that had big Spanish features even though she wasn't even slightly Latin. He waited for her to help out, anything at all would help him. He cleared his throat loudly to wake her up fully.

"Oh," She made a thick eye contact with him before turning to focus on Drake. "Drake, maybe, just because Josh's reason for joining this team has a little more moral to it, you should let him try for the team."

"No fair! Come on, Pem, if you saw this girl, you'd join the team, too!"

"I believe you." She stood up and stretched and then turned to face both the boys with her arms above her head. "But, you've never had any trouble mating, buddy," She laughed. "Whether or not you join this team, I have no doubts you'll manage to get a date with this Kim girl." Pem walked over Drake's legs and grabbed her bag that sat by the door.

"You're the crappiest best friend, Pem." Scoffing, Drake pouted and didn't even turn to watch her pull her jean jacket over her green school uniform.

"You can be my best friend!" Happily, Josh jumped up from the coach and cackled.

"Well, we'll see how crappy I am when I buy you Burger King tonight." Pem pulled the straps of her bag over her shoulder and waited for Drake to get ready. The promise of Burger King was enough to get him off the couch and at the door.

"What are you guys doing tonight?" Feeling a little left out, Josh asked, watching from his bed.

"Who knows." Pem told him, honestly. "Just sort of cruise around. You're welcome to come." She invited him, she was the one driving and Josh wasn't exactly a stranger, she saw no problem with it.

"No way." Drake tied up his last Converse and followed Pem out of the bedroom doorway. "Josh, I'll see you later." He wasn't about to share his best friend with anyone. He completely dismissed the sudden sad look that took over his brother's face in a second of him turning him away. But, Pem was the only thing that was entirely Drake's, or so he thought.

"Drake, that's horrible, invite him." She held her hips and let one jet out to the side like Daphne from _Scooby Doo_ would do.

Drake turned around to face her glare after closing his bedroom door.

"No, he'd just be third wheeling it." Drake didn't know why he was possessive over his friendship with Pem, but he was. She was the one girl he'd never thought about sexually, never kissed, never even thought about doing anything with. She could keep up with him when jamming, she could outrun him or play him in baseball, she liked playing chicken, drag racing, and doing silly things like pudding balloon fights, go-karting at two am, and skipping school to paintball in an empty field.

Whenever she'd pick him up from Belleview, he never let his friends meet her, when they'd go out for his birthday, he was very adamant that she didn't talk to any of his guy friends. Her opinion was the only one he valued when it came to problems or girls.

"Third wheeling it?" Pem followed Drake out of his house, saying goodbye to his mom and stepdad on the way out the door and into her used red '95 Chevy Malibu, lovingly named Little Red. "How would he be third wheeling it? Are we a hot couple?"

"Ew, Pem, that's sick!" Drake acted as if shivers had taken over his body and he shook in his seat. "Come on." He pulled his seatbelt on and fiddled with the radio stations while she pulled out of his driveway.

"Oh, leave this on!" Pem screamed, shocking Drake, he fidgeted with the buttons and got back to the radio station she liked.

"This is such an old song."

"Oldies are golden. They're making a comeback."

"Whatever." Drake leaned back in the passenger seat chair, rolling the window down and leaving his hand hang out.

"Just as long as you stand, stand by me, so darling, darling, stand by me…" Belting out the lyrics to a song she'd grown up listening to, she made exaggerated funny faces at Drake while driving. "I won't stop until you join in!" She teased.

With nothing to worry about, Drake sang along with her, she was his, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. He could put her back on his shelf.

Alright, so this doesn't give you a very good idea about where I'm going to take the story, but I'm really excited about this one, so let me know what you think!

Read and review, please!!


	2. Stand By Me Part Two

Chapter Two: Stand By Me

**Chapter Two: Stand By Me Part Two**

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Drake & Josh or anything affiliated with it. I do, however, own the Skinner Family including Pem.

"Sorry, it wasn't exactly Burger King." Still dressed in her school uniform, Pem pushed opened her bedroom door and waited until Drake had walked into her bedroom, still rubbing his stomach.

"Are you kidding? I'd take your Mom's pork chops over fast food any day." He thumped down on her bed and folded his hands behind his head. "It was so good." He grinned and smacked his lips together, trying to savor every last spicy flavor.

"I'm glad you liked it." Pem pulled up her round chair to curl up inside and rest her feet over Drake's legs. Pem cradled her gray stuffed rabbit against her chest, running one hand over it's floppy ears and down it's soft back. Drake had given it to her on her third birthday and named it Drake for her, he felt it was very fitting.

The rabbit had suffered through six loads of laundry, seventeen family road trips, countless juice stains, many drool stains, tosses against the wall, and even a frightening battle against the Skinner's pug. Still, he meant the world to her and she wouldn't even consider trashing the bunny.

"Oh, Drake, come on," Pem rolled her eyes as she caught a peek of Drake pulling open her night table drawer. He slid out her thick hard covered yearbook and began to flip to the pages he'd book marked because they had pictures of the hottest girls. "Do you have to look at that every time you're over here?" Which was almost everyday.

"I need the inspiration." He whined while grinning like he was on drugs at the pages of the book.

"Is that what you're calling it these days?" She chucked the rabbit against the book forcing the cover to smack Drake in the forehead.

"Ouch." He pushed it back, leaving one hand to rub over the mark on his face. "But, they're so hot, Pem, you've got to bring me to one of your steamy all girl school parties."

"Yeah, where we have those pillow fights in our bras and panties that put little boys to sleep everywhere." She laughed and caught the bunny as he threw it back to her. "Come on, put the book away before you pitch a tent."

"Ugh, I'm so jealous; you go to an all girls' school."

"I know."

"As your best bud, I sort of think it's in my job description to meet all these girls."

"Yeah?" Pem played along.

"Yeah, make sure they're all good, feel them up."

"You mean feel them out?" She guessed.

"No, I mean feel them up." He snickered with a sly Chesire Cat like grin. He quickly swiped his legs from underneath her feet before she could nail her heel into them.

"You're gross, Drake Parker." She rolled eyes that Drake often referred to as "monster dark". Pem got up from her chair and moved over to her vanity mirror, sitting down and adjusting her lop-sided pony tail. Just like the entire Skinner family, she had a thick head of brown hair. Not a brown that shone like the sun on beach rocks or flowed like the city river. A plain fudge brown. Pem hated fudge, too sweet and it always made her teeth ache.

"I'm thinking about dying my hair blonde." She stated for anybody who was listening while tightening the elastic around her hair.

"Why?" Sounding very nonchalant, Drake didn't even glance away from the book over at her.

"I just thought I'd try it out. Something different."

Drake didn't like to think about Pem changing. She was always going to be sweet little Pem with an awkward laugh and baby hands. Part of being sweet little Pem was dark hair, why would she want to go blonde?

"I wouldn't." Instead of telling her she was fine the way she was, Drake just shrugged his shoulders and told her, "Blonde would look silly on you."

Pem just kept staring in the mirror and dragging her fingers through stray hairs, wondering, while Drake turned on his side and looked at the framed pictures on her night table. There were three of Pem and Drake, his favorite was them dressed up for Halloween at six years old. He was Danny from_ Grease_ and she was in a Sandy get-up. One had a picture of Patricia Skinner, Pem's mom, when she was a teenager. Pem was the second Skinner child and the only girl, so she had always been very close with her mom since it was her only saving grace from masculinity. On the back of the night table was the biggest picture of all, a candid shot of the entire Skinner family. Patricia and Pem sat on the coach between Penn and Perry, thirteen year old twins who had thoughts for girls, video games and cupcakes only. They always wore matching outfits and backwards baseball caps. Standing behind the coach was the oldest of the Skinner children, Pete, a twenty year old who was short and box shaped. He was only in University because he was a talented line back. His personality matched that of Moose's from _Archie _comics. Obviously, Patrick Skinner, Pem's father, had taken the picture. Patrick was nothing like either Pem or his wife. He was a nervous and serious man, your stereotypical insurance man through and through. He wore business suits in and out of the office where as Patricia was a free spirit. She loved yoga, children, gardening, herbal tea, dogs, and _Survivor. _

Secretly, Drake loved being over at the Skinner house. It made him feel like a fourth brother for Pem, another guy to watch over her and fight battles for her. He hadn't the slightest clue that that drove her insane.

"Pembrooke!" Calling from the bottom step was Patricia, hollering madly for her daughter.

Pem jumped up from the mirror and headed to the open door.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Taylor called earlier. I forgot to tell you."

"Okay, thanks. I'll call back later." Pem smiled down at her mother, a spitting image of her, and wandered back into the room. "Alright, let's do something because you're starting to bore me, Parker." She held her hips at the end of her bed and waited for Drake to rise up from the mattress.

"Who's Taylor?" He asked, a little worried it would be a boy.

"My cousin." Pem was certain she had introduced Drake to her. "She's probably just calling about my birthday."

Drake couldn't hide his smile when he found out Taylor was a girl. He had no idea why, but that was another reason why Drake loved that Pem attended an all girl's school. It was less likely that she'd mingle with guys that way.

"That's right; your sixteenth is on Friday."

"I'm so pumped!" She clapped her hands together and climbed onto the bed to bounce. Drake finally crawled off his back and onto his feet to jump around with her.

"Are you ready for our annual night of insanity and mayhem?" He asked while touching the ceiling with both his palms.

"Are you?" She giggled.

"There's a Marx Brother's marathon on at the drive- in. I thought we could go there and eat mass quantities of popcorn shrimp and jumbo berry milkshakes."

"Oh!" She squealed. "That sounds just gross enough to be delicious." She jabbed her elbow into his stomach in an attempt to knock him down from the bed.

"Hey, watch out, I'll jab you back, Skinner!" He said, as she wrapped him in a quick head lock. There were a lot of disadvantages of having three brothers, but one of the few perks was you could fight unlike any other C-cup wearing girl.

"Alright, if I knock you off the bed first, we go to Marble Slab for dessert, deal?" She released him from underneath her arm.

Still jumping up and down, Drake fixed his hair before thinking of what he wanted out of the bargain.

"And if I knock you off…" He tried to think of something he really wanted. "You come to the Sticks and Bones concert with me."

"Ugh, fine." She let down her guard for a moment and sighed exasperated by the thought of going to a thrasher concert. It was the one metal band Drake really liked and this was the first time they were coming into town.

"1…." Drake counted as he crouched into fighting position.

"2…" She locked her eyes into his and pretended to spit to the side.

"Go!" He shouted and grabbed her around the waist and tried to pull her down, but she managed to wiggle her way out and smack his back repeatedly. Even over his laughter, Drake could hear his cell phone ring tone coming from his pant pockets. Pem had managed to hold him in a headlock again and as he reached for his phone to answer, she kicked him off the bed and sent him rolling onto her floor that was covered in music and make-up magazines.

"I win! I win!" In a circle, Pem danced around her bed while jumping and wailing her hands through the air. "You got served, Parker!" She cackled, her pony tail dancing about in the air.

"Hey Kim, talk to me." Holding himself up on the floor, Drake was suddenly completely captivated in conversation. "You're wearing what?" He smiled and got up onto his feet, dusting off imaginary dust from his jeans. He rested against the cushion of Pem's chair and left her completely alone, it was like he forgot where he was and that she was even there.

Pem was used to it, though. Drake had always chased after girls, even in daycare, that's how they became friends. He asked her to marry him on the driveway, but she said "No, let's just play chalk.", and the rest of history. She rolled her eyes and wandered out of the room to the laundry room to find something more comfortable to change into. Besides, Drake's new flavor of the week would have him occupied for an hour which meant she could finish her Pre Cal homework.

"Friday?" Drake nodded along to the sound of Kim's voice the way a new puppy chased a twig. "Yeah, I'm free this Friday. I'll go to your house party." It completely slipped his mind that this Friday was Pem's birthday, even though the two had been excitingly planning it only fifteen minutes ago. When a girl beckoned for Drake, he turned into complete goo in their hands.

XXXX

Even though I have awesome ideas for this story, I don't know if I'm completely happy with this chapter, but you should defiantly read the next one to see what Drake does, Kim or Pem? Big decision for him.

Comments, suggestions, and anything else are always helpful!


	3. All You Wanted

Chapter Three: All You Wanted

Chapter Three: All You Wanted

_Huge thanks to BellaBlue08 , who has been faithfully reading this story and giving me positive feedback. She's, also, got a great story called You Own My Life, that is definitely worth checking out. _

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Drake & Josh. As nice as that would be. I do, however, own the character of Pem Skinner and Kim Kolt.**

Singing along to a song he'd just started to write, Drake looked himself over in front the bathroom mirror, running his hands under the cold water and then playing with his hair for the umpteenth time. It was nearing on nine; he never liked to show up early to a party, this was perfect. This way, if he left in fifteen minutes, he could pick up Trevor and then Trevor's girlfriend and be at Kim's party by ten.

However, the only problem was still overshadowed by Drake's excitement to hang out with Kim. He was supposed to have picked Pem up at exactly nine o'clock for her birthday.

"See ya, Josh!" Drake yelled after he'd shut off the light in the bathroom and grabbed his royal blue zip up on the end of the staircase banister.

It looked like it would be another Friday night alone for Josh Nichols. He didn't even bother to call Craig or Erik, if they were interested in hanging out with him, they'd just pop by. Besides, he had a history assignment that he could get a jump start on anyways.

**XXXX**

Nine fifteen wasn't even late for Drake Parker. Pem glanced at the digital clock on her cell phone and then returned to listening to a new Sufjan Stevens song on her Ipod. Drake had never been on time in his entire life. The running joke between Drake and Pem's family was that he'd probably be late for his own funeral. Closing her saucer sized eyes, Pem sank into the song and waited for her best friend.

Anxious, Pem couldn't help but, open her eyes every few seconds and roll over on her side to check the time on her phone. The thought of Drake's forgetfulness didn't even cross her mind. They'd been celebrating her birthday for years on the same day and he'd never missed it. He was always the one who was more excited than she was and that's why she looked foreword to it at all.

By nine thirty, the inner Skinner was beginning to come out of Pem. Her angry tomboy side was starting to take the reigns. She'd called him once, just to get his rhyming answering machine message that usually made her chuckle awkwardly. This time it just pissed her off. If he didn't get there within the next thirty seconds, they were going to be late for the marathon and have to park in the very back between thirty something's smoking joints and vans full of first time make out sessions.

"Drake," Pem began her second message at ten to ten. "It's Pem, I hope nothing horrible happened like you fell into a vat of butterscotch or you know…a car crash." She rambled. "Anyways, call me back." She hung up and left her phone to sit on top of her stomach, so she could feel the vibrate without having to take out her earphones to listen for the noise.

The sky was Pem's favorite shade of blue by ten o'clock when she climbed behind the wheel of her car and headed over to Drake's side of the city. She balanced her cell phone between her ear and sweatshirt covered shoulder while she kept both her hands firmly on the wheel. She was worried, not angry, but worried about her best friend.

"Hey Drake, it's me, for the forth time. I hope you're okay, call me when you get this, _please_!" Lightly, she tossed the phone between her legs and made a sharp turn into The Parker-Nichol's home residence.

Frantically, assuming that she had just missed all the bright sirens from the ambulance taking away Drake in a body bag, she knocked like a girl guide tripping out on acid at the front door. She nearly slammed her fist into Josh's stomach when he opened the door open to reveal her.

"Is Drake okay?" She huffed out in one giant gulp of a breath.

"Probably," Josh looked over Pam, as she bent her body over to hold her knees and steady her breath. "He's at Kim Kolt's party."

"What?" This was news to Pem. Drake had talked nonstop the last day about how Kim invited him to her big house party that was sending off Greg Belton, but she had made the quick assumption that it wasn't on the same day as her birthday. There was no way, in Pem's mind, that Drake would forget something so important.

"Yeah, he left an hour ago or so. I'm sure you'll hear all about it tomorrow morning depending on how hammered he is." Josh said, his voice was low and expressed how unimpressed he was with his brother.

"Probably." A vein beginning to form in the middle of Pem's forehead, she began to turn around and head back to her car to spend her birthday with her three brothers watching UFC in their living room and drinking Sugar Free Kool-Aid. "Have a good one, Josh." She waved her hand through the air and took the steps down one at a time.

"Wait, Pem," He called at the back of her causing her to freeze on the dry cement walkway and slowly turn around to meet his gaze. "Are you alright?" Even though Josh wasn't as close with her, he could sense from what he usually saw, she wasn't having a great evening. A smile that she wore so effortlessly wasn't making an appearance on her face full of big features. The chubby body she claimed as her own wasn't bouncing or standing proudly, she was hunched over and dragging her worn out flip flops against the pavement.

"It's my sixteenth birthday today." She said without any sort of hope, excitement, or reason to grin. "I'm feeling a little too Molly Ringwald for my liking." Pem wanted to crack a smile, but Josh could tell she wasn't going to be able to do it on her own.

"Then come in!" He waved his hand in the air to coral her into his house and forced a grin the size of Russia on.

"No, it's okay." She shook her head, nervously and stared at her sparkle painted toes.

"I want you to come in." Josh was honest with her. He could use some company and clearly, she was unhappy about being alone. He stepped out of the doorway before confessing that he wanted her to hang out with him and waited for her to take the lead into the Parker – Nichol's foyer.

"So, what's on the agenda for tonight? Don't you and Drake usually do things you have to be intensely deranged to do?" He shoved both his hands into his pockets. He knew if he left them out in the open they'd fiddle about strangely, sweat, or be inclined to perform a card trick.

"We were going to eat seafood and homemade milkshakes and watch the Marx Brother's marathon at the Odeon Drive In." She admitted, feeling kind of stupid to tell someone who was as intelligent as Josh was.

"Well," Internally, Josh wished he felt cool enough to try something as novel as Pem and Drake's game plan, but he knew himself and he could admit that he would be very uncomfortable with the stomach ache that would ensue through out that. "Why don't we set out on our own adventure?" Josh was a natural caregiver and he strived to make the birthday girl smile.

"Any ideas?" The usually creative Pem was too disappointed to come up with anything fun.

"How about we make cake and play solitaire?"

It wasn't stomach turning or vomit-inducing, but it was very Josh, and that's the only reason Pem obliged. It had nothing to do with Drake, and she was hurt.

XXXX

Josh carefully closed the oven door, to avoid making any loud noises, after putting in the glass pan of homemade marble cake mixture. Even though his parents were out at a friend's party and Megan was at her best friend's sleepover, he hated loud noises.

"Twenty minutes." He picked up the small kitchen timer off the counter and concentrated on setting it.

Pem had completely let go of her disappointment and had her hands indulging in scraping runny dough off the black mixing bowl and licking it. It tasted just what she imagined heaven would.

"You've got that all over your hands." Josh laughed, watching her lick some off her palms like the kids she watched over at her mom's daycare. "I'll get you a cloth." He opened up a kitchen drawer to grab a dish towel.

"No need, bud." Pem shook her head and then demonstrated how she liked to wash her hands by popping a finger in her mouth and sucking the cake batter off. "See all clean!" She wiggled her wet spotless finger around. Josh laughed and shook his head at what dork she could be. He always thought she was one of the toughest and coolest girl's he'd laid eyes on, he was brand new to this version of Pem, the one without a guard up.

"You've got it all over your face now." He said through his chuckles.

"Where?" She wiped the back of her hand across her forehead causing a streak of batter to stick.

"There now." He laughed.

"Damnit, I'll take that cloth now." She slid off the kitchen chair, resting the nearly empty mixing bowl on the kitchen counter.

"Here you go." He pulled out the dish towel form the drawer once more and handed it over into her messy hand. The two dark haired teenagers stood with only their chests keeping them away from one another.

"Thanks." She wiped it over her forehead and then looked over the towel to see if she got everything.

"You missed this bit." He traced over a little spot on her right cheek to point out a little more dried cake mix.

It only took a second, Pem didn't even feel herself do it, but she lifted herself up onto her toes and pressed her cake batter lips over Josh's that had been completely balmed and felt like freshly fluffed pillows against her. Quickly, Josh's subconscious clocked in on what was happening and he moved his hand from her cheek to behind her neck and slipped right into the swing of things.

"Shit." Pem whispered when she finally pulled back.

"Thanks." Josh had only kissed two girls before her, one on a dare, but neither of them had said that afterwards.

"No, it's just that…"

"You're mad at Drake, I get it." He wished the kiss hadn't happened out of spite, but he could understand how she was feeling. He was no stranger from being let down by Drake Parker.

"Yeah, and he can't know about this, Josh. He'd flip out."

Keeping secrets from Drake was something Josh had never done. As his brother, he told him everything, but Pem made a good point. Josh had seen up close how precious Pem was to Drake. He lost his voice from screaming at a guy who stared at Pem's chest too long in the mall food court, Josh figured Drake would find it easy to slam his fist into Josh's perfectly straight teeth if he found out about the kiss.

"My lips are sealed." Josh assured her, swallowing hard around the lump that was beginning to form in his throat.

"Good." Pem was blushing out of embarrassment. "I'm going to go find a deck of cards." She excused herself out of the kitchen leaving Josh to press his fingers against his lips, trying to keep the feeling fresh.

Josh's feet led him out of the kitchen, his common sense had completely passed out somewhere between touching Pem's face and kissing her. He waltzed right over to the cabinet in the dining room where she was looking for some playing cards.

"Was I any good?" He asked her bluntly. He leaned his side against the wooden cabinet.

Pem looked up from where she was crouched, searching inside one of the cupboards. Her eyes were surprised by his question, but her face was still bothered from thinking about how creamy his lips felt against hers. Her mouth was sort of tingling.

"Yeah," She said in a whisper, but truthfully. "Yeah, you are."

Josh was like a three year old at a magic show who'd just got picked to be the magician's assistant. His feet were lifting from off the wooden floor and his heart had frozen still. All the pigment from his skin fled.

"Where are your cards?" Pem tried to occupy herself and avoid his stare. She closed the cupboard door and stood back up straight. Josh grabbed her by the shoulder forcing her to look into the naiveté that his eyes possessed that seemed to have no ending.

"You know," He started to state in a loud register. "Drake won't be home until one, probably, he's not one for following curfew, so what he doesn't know won't kill him."

Josh didn't have to say anymore. Her lips were back on his and somehow, without using their hands or eyes, they made their way onto the empty living room chesterfield.

XXXXX

Oh, boy.

What will Drake do? Or will he even find out? Has he figured out it's Pem's birthday?

I'm actually super pleased with how this chapter turned out.

**Read and Review. PLEASE! Long reviews are as beautiful as Latin men.**

A song list of the chapters if anybody cares:

Glycerine – Bush

Stand By Me – There's a million versions out there.

All You Wanted – Michelle Branch (Really fits this chapter)


	4. That's What You Get Part One

Chapter Four: Top of The World

Chapter Four: That's What You Get Part One

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Drake & Josh. I just own the made up characters. **

**Author's Note: This is a super long chapter.**

Drake was lucky as far as hangovers go. The only thing bugging him was the sun screaming viciously into his eyes. He used his Risky Business style glasses to help him out on his way home.

Without a single care in the world, he wandered into his house around noon, disregarding the fact that he had completely disobeyed his curfew. Thankfully, Walter and Audrey were at Megan's music recital, so nobody was home to lecture him or threaten him with Audrey's favorite line: "You're not too old for a spanking, mister!"

It was as if someone had smeared Krazy Glue underneath his lips and now he just couldn't stop smiling, his mouth was stuck in that form. Kim's party was more than he wanted it to be.

"Josh!" Drake hollered repeatedly while jumping steps up to his bedroom where he knew he'd find his brother finishing up an assignment for one of Drake's mortal enemies: Mrs. Hayfer. "Oh man!" He began to gush as soon as he'd jumped in front of his brother. Drake smelt rank as he was still dressed in last night's clothes, but he ignored that fact and threw his hands around like an excited junior high girl. "You'll never guess who I got with last night!" He yanked the giant English text book right out of Josh's grip.

"Kim Kolt?" Josh stated extra carelessly.

"How'd you know?" Drake scratched his greasy head of hair and pondered over the possibilities of his brother being a physic.

"Process of elimination." Sarcastically, Josh reached behind Drake and grabbed his school book back from the coffee table.

"Yeah, and after she was finished, I made out with Giselle."

"Who?"

"Giselle Dobrechowski." Drake guessed that was her last name; he didn't give two shits either way. He was on a natural high and had no plans to come down.

"Who?"

"This hot German exchange student!" He shrieked. "She's staying with Kim for the year and this is her first week in our fair land." Mischievously, the corners of Drake's lips curled upwards as he fiddled with his fingers together. "And I got her number! We have plans for tonight already." Drake was very proud of how well he could schmooze when it came to girls.

Josh, on the other hand, avoided letting his eyes meet with Drake's excited pupils. He couldn't stop thinking about Pem, how she smelt like sea salt and her skin was warm and smooth against his own. He kept picturing mentally in his head how she'd make an intense eye contact with him before their lips parted and then she'd close her eyes shut again.

Josh worried that if he looked up at Drake that he would be able to put the pieces together, but Drake was too caught up in his own world to give a damn.

"She's got the hottest body, Josh; you can't even imagine a girl like this." Drake exclaimed while jumping the ladder and laying down in his own bed, little did he know, his brother could imagine a girl like that and he had been ever since Pem left their house at one in the morning. "She's got this thick German accent and blonde _blonde _hair. She's straight out of a damn music video." He howled while fishing his cell phone out of his zip-up pocket. He ignored the missed calls and voicemails and went straight to calling Pem.

Since she was his best friend, it was only fitting she hear his news.

"I got to tell Pem!" He exclaimed while pressing the one to his ear and listening to the dial tone. "Josh, why so quiet?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Josh shivered and shut his school book closed immediately. "I don't know a thing about Pem!"

"What?" Drake lowered both his brows, forcing them to join in the middle like one giant furry cocoon. He shrugged it off and ignored how frantic Josh was acting. "That's weird, I got her voicemail."

_Serves you right. _Josh thought to himself privately.

"What the hell could she be doing that's so important this early in the morning?"

"It's noon." Josh corrected.

"I'm going over." Drake shoved his hand, cell phone inside his fist, back into his sweatshirt and jumped down to the floor.

"You should probably shower first."

"Point taken!" He shot one finger in the air and made a beeline for the upstairs bathroom.

XXX

"Mattie, please, keep your overalls done up!"

Every daycare had its primo rascal and at the Skinner's daycare center which Patricia ran out of the main floor and basement of her house, Mathieu Herbert was it.

With her pajama pants dragging under her feet and dark circles wrapping around her eyes, Pem chased after the seven year old brat until he'd clipped the straps of denim overalls back together. She picked up one of the youngest children off the ground, removing the red plastic block out of his mouth's reach as she went to answer the door.

She was disappointed to find Drake there, mostly because she'd have rather greeted an early parent and she was still a little cheesed off at her friend for missing out on her birthday.

"Hey, you're not picking up your phone." He shook his cell phone in front of her air as if she'd been living in a cave for a decade and didn't have the hottest clue what technology was.

"I'm kind of busy." She figured Drake had eyes and could see at least six of the twelve children that were running about her formerly clean house. Pem was shocked that Drake hadn't apologized yet or even acknowledged what he'd done.

"Well, do you have time to hear my awesome story?"

That's when it became crystal clear to Pem that Drake was still blissfully unaware of his forgetfulness.

"Sure, I guess." She sighed and began to walk away from him. "Mattie, don't take off some else's overall's either." Still holding the baby in her arms, Pem made for a mad dash to Mathieu and pulled him away from his little sister. Drake closed the door behind him and slipped off his Chuck Taylor's while Pem tried to fix the little girl's outfit.

"It's about Kim's party last night." He stood behind her and ignored the fact that she was very pre occupied. She stood back up and handed Drake the baby while he babbled. She then led Mathieu's little sister and another blonde toddler to the kitchen table where they could entertain themselves with crayons and big pieces of white paper. "It was crazy shi-…awesome." He refrained from swearing around the daycare kids. "Pem, can't someone else watch these rug rats? They're taking away from my story." He spoke over the crying baby and screaming children that were racing around the house.

"No can do." She shook her head and took the baby from his arms, so she could get him ready for his bottle.

"Where's the rest of your family?" Drake wondered, looking around, thinking he could just pick them out of thin air.

"Dad's with the twins who are at soccer practice, Pete's at the Y, and my mom's upstairs trying to conduct a time out."

"Good luck." Drake scoffed and pulled himself out a chair to sit between the two little girls who were coloring pictures with only pink and purple wax crayons. "As I was saying, Kim and I were all over each other. We got together, in her parent's bed,"

"Why weren't you in her bed?" The tinier of the two toddlers searched Drake's big brown eyes for answers. Pem wondered that question as well.

"Cause it was being used by other people." He answered the three year old honestly like she was an adult.

"Well, congratulations." Pem said with her back facing Drake and most of her attention on the baby in her arms.

"It gets better. I met a German chick! So hot!"

"Does she have a fever?" The tiny toddler asked him again. This time, Drake just handed her a broken magenta crayon in place of an answer.

"Drake, I don't know if this story is entirely appropriate for daycare." Usually, Pem wouldn't care, but she was angry with her best friend and a little confused herself about how she was going to explain her make out session with Josh to Drake. Plus, she was working.

"Is something wrong, Pem?" Drake didn't understand why she was acting the way she was. Usually both her monster eyes were engaged by his facial expressions during one of his stories and she loved when he'd gush over a girl. "Did you get in another fight with your dad?" He asked, nonchalantly, he clearly didn't really care at that moment.

"Pen, pen, pen!" Mathieu came racing around the living room corner and straight into the kitchen. He almost collided with the childproof gate on his way over. He attempted to chant Pem's name then went to tugging on the bottom of her oversized sweatshirt. "Your mom said we could have your left over birthday cake for snack!"

That's when Drake realized the real problem. Pem's sixteenth birthday had slipped out of his mind like a lubed up man on a waterslide. Pem stared at Drake whose jaw was sitting on her kitchen floor and his eyes drilling a hole into her face.

"Don't." She said sharply and adjusted the baby against her chest to burp him. "And yes, Mathieu, we'll have cake later."

"Pem, I can't believe myself. Dude, I'm an idiot!" His hands landed onto his face as he followed her around the house. "How did I screw that one up? As if I forgot."

"You were excited." Pem made excuses for Drake; she was no stranger to that task. Of course, she was hurt, but she tried her hardest to take the high road.

"I'm going to make it up to you. Let's go do the Marx Brothers thing tonight."

"It was only on last night."

"Well, let's go do something you want to do, anything, _on me_!"

"How about you just come over around six and we figured something out then?" Pem was prepared to grant her best friend some kind of forgiveness. He seemed genuinely upset with his actions, even though he had yet to apologize.

"Oh, I can't at six." Or maybe, he wasn't. "Giselle, the German chick, we're going for an early dinner, but I could come by afterwards."

"Forget it." Pem stopped in front of her front door, standing right in the middle of the decorative rug that was sitting contently underneath a mess of small shoes with the exception of Drake's and two pairs of Pem's fathers work shoes.

"No, I already did that!" Drake stomped his feet. "Let me make this better."

"Please, just go, we'll talk later." With one free hand, Pem ripped open her front door and left it wide for Drake to let himself out. She marched away while rocking the baby.

Drake was stunned. Even though she'd handled the whole situation like a pro, she'd never just asked him to leave; she always loved when he'd pop by. He couldn't help that large quantities of small children made him squeamish. He decided to wait until after his date to give her a call, maybe then she'd be less occupied.

XXX

Just like a woman in labor Josh had to coach himself through breathing. He had the phone clenched between his clammy palms and wore an expression on his face like someone who was baring bad news as he paced back and forth in front of his bed, preparing to call Pem.

What if she really didn't want to talk to him?

She was pissed off at Drake last night. It was plausible that the kiss was strictly out of spite and a little bit of loneliness. Perhaps, he was just reading into nothing.

Nervously, Josh played with the buttons of his cell phone and accidentally hit the green "Tel" button which caused his phone to dial Pem's number on the spot.

"Oh crap!" His lips smacked together and he immediately hung up.

He sat down on the coach that sat in the middle of the room covered in Drake's guitar, empty soda cans, and one crumpled up jumbo bag of Sour Cream & Onion chips. He was trying to convince himself to play it cool and be calm. Besides, Pem had always been very kind to him. Maybe, she'd be friendly and polite.

Before, Josh could fully convince himself his cell phone began to buzz loudly as it vibrated on his lap.

"Crap, crap, crap!" He repeated over and over as he read her name and number flash like a neon sign on the front of his cell phone. Finally, he just flipped it open and held it, shaking in his hand, against his ear. "Crap?" He let slip accidentally. "I mean, hello, hi, uh, hi."

"Hey, did you just hang up on me?" Pem had just begun to walk the Skinner's family pug, Pugsley. She held his leash loosely as he doddled down her driveway and onto the residential street.

"Yeah, I did, sorry." Josh answered honestly.

"Oh,uh," Awkwardly, Pem attempted to cough up a chuckle. "Any reason why?"

"I didn't mean to call you, actually."

"Okay," Pem was surprised when her heart sank in disappointment to find that out. "Well, in that case, see you."

"But, I wanted to!" Josh tried to make a quick save. He stood up on his feet from the sofa and wandered over to his bed, trying to keep his body moving in hope's it would help his brain work.

"Josh, I'm getting confused."

"I was just curious, you know, how your day went and…stuff?"

"Busy." She let out honestly. Since, she was in the middle of a grudge with Drake; it was nice to have someone to talk about little things with.

"You had to work at your mom's daycare, right?"

A smile appeared on Pem's face as fast as magic beans make a bean stock grow. She didn't expect Josh to remember anything she had told him earlier.

"Yeah, I did, which isn't usually a big deal, but Pete,"

"Your oldest brother?"

"Yeah, he was busy, so it was just my mom and I and twelve little weasels." She sighed. "Oh well, it's all over now, thankfully. How about you? How's your day been going?"

"Well, nowhere near as eventful as yours." Josh had immersed himself into a complete comfortable state; he had wandered back to the coach with his legs sprawled out and his back straight against the arm of it. "I just finished up some homework and I took a small three hour shift over at The Premiere."

"And how'd that go?" Pem was genuinely interested in the conversation. She had forgotten that she was out walking her dog; she was just going through the motions.

"Not busy at all, actually. Afternoons never are."

"I'm surprised you're not working tonight since its Saturday."

"Yeah, it's my first Saturday off in months."

"Lucky you! What will you do with yourself? Sneak into a casino? Download she-male midget porn?" Pem giggled as she poked fun at Josh.

"Porn? That sounds dirty. I prefer the term 'adult film'." Usually, a topic such as pornography with anyone would make Josh sweat, but even though Pem was just an acquaintance, he was strangely at ease. Her voice sounded as sweet as honeydew, he couldn't help, but be peaceful while talking to her.

"My bad." She chuckled.

"Actually, my friends, Craig and Eric, they're in this debate against your school and I told them I'd check it out – "

"That was nice of you."

"I guess, but uh," Here came the hard part. Josh knew what he wanted to say and how he wanted it to come out. Even though he was comfortable on the phone with her, there was no way around the jitters and nerves that were pinching his throat. "I was sort of thinking, well, who doesn't like a good debate?!" Quickly, just to get a sentence out, Josh said.

"I do enjoy well organized arguing."

"Then, so, you'll come?"

_Whoa. _It came like a blood sucking bat out of a pitch black cave. Pem really wasn't expecting him to want to hang out. After, she let it sink in, she smiled at the idea of spending more time with Josh. She had enjoyed herself the night before and he was very kind about making her feel better when she was down. Plus, the boy made a mean marble cake.

"Sure, that sounds like fun."

"Okay, uh, I'll pick you up around seven?"

"Yeah, do you know where I live?" Pem wanted to make sure.

"Yep, you live in Epiphany Spring, right?" He wanted to double check, just in case. "25 Easy Dell Court?"

"That's the one."

"Great, see you at seven."

"See you."

"Oh, and Pem," He rushed his words together before she could hang up.

"Yeah?"

"Can we keep this between you and I, like, don't tell Drake, maybe?"

"Of course."

Pem never fully understood how Drake could flutter from girl to girl like a butterfly that had just dropped acid and she couldn't even grab McDonald's with a guy friend, but that's just how it had always been. Drake would throw a temper tantrum if Pem bought _People's _Sexiest Man Alive issue. It was just best if Pem and Josh kept things to themselves for the moment.

XXXX

Part two will be up soon! I have to work all day tomorrow, but hopefully by Sunday, I'll be able to begin writing it.

Let me know what you guys think! Thorough reviews are beautiful.

**That's What You Get - Paramore**


	5. That's What You Get Part Two

Chapter Four: That's What You Get Part Two

Chapter Five: That's What You Get Part Two

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Drake & Josh. I only own Pem in this chapter.**

**Author's Note: Another long chapter. Consider yourself warned.**

Never so fast in his entire life had Drake Parker got out of a car. He wasn't even sure if his mom's car had come to a complete stop, he just jumped right out. He was determined to make his mishap with Pem up to her. He had cut his date with Giselle down to an half hour make out session plus blowjob in his car in the park so he'd be able to drive home to Pem's right after, but he was almost out of gas and his wallet was empty. He figured he could just switch into Walter's car without it being a big deal at all.

"Where's Walter? Where's Walter?" He yelled as soon as he had ran into the living room, he left the front door open behind him.

"In the backyard, boob." Megan rolled her eyes at her frantic brother as he crossed behind the coach and straight onto the family's deck.

Walter and Audrey were both crouched on their knees on the soft green grass, using all their strength to rip out dead roots from their garden that always looked fresh and full during the summer season.

"Dude," Drake marched right over to the two of them and stood between, poking Walter in the side to get his attention. "Where's your van?"

"Ow," Walter balanced his weight on one side and rubbed his ribs while glaring up at Drake with furrowed brow. "Josh took it for the night."

"It's Saturday."

"I know." Walter mumbled, going back to working on the garden.

"Where would Josh go out to on a Saturday?" Drake snorted a little laughter, completely baffled by such a silly comment. Usually, if not at work, Josh could be found lounging around the house on weekends with no plains, unless Craig or Eric came over to read about the latest astrology or kinesiology news on the internet.

"He didn't say." Audrey piped in.

"But, I need your van!" Drake exclaimed. He was desperate to make something work. "I have to go see someone."

"Didn't you just come back from a date?" Audrey was always a little displeased with Drake's hyper active dating calendar, but she chose to turn a blind eye to it most days. At fourteen, she'd given him the safe sex talk and always made sure to drop uncomfortable comments through out the years.

"No, I just want to see Pem." Drake sighed, letting his arms droop. "Fine, I guess I'll get her to pick me up." Drake turned around, fishing his cell phone from his pant's pocket. The world was his oyster, everybody abided by his wishes, he figured. He reached his bedroom door when her voicemail picked up. Drake rolled his eyes and wandered in, crashing on his still messy couch. "Hey Pem, I hope me getting your voicemail doesn't become a habit." He groaned. "I just got home from my date, man, do I have things to tell you!" Anyone could hear how big he was smiling. "Anyways, call me back, bronto."

XXXX

She already had her seatbelt buckled up and was waiting for Josh to climb in behind the wheel of his mom's car when she felt her phone vibrating inside her purse which was sitting on the ground by her flip flop wearing feet. She brought her phone along in case of emergency, but figured it would be viewed as rude if she answered it. She knew it wasn't a date, but it felt nice to pretend.

"Before we go," Josh reached into the car and shuffled around the backseat to grab a small gift bag. He climbed into the car and shut the door next to him." Happy birthday." He watched her face while handing her the gift bag with bold blue tissue paper sticking out of it.

"Happy Birthday? Josh, last night was more than enough." Sweetly, she grinned at the bag that she rested on her lap. It was unnecessary of him to get her anything, but it made her insides twist into a cat's cradle with a few thousand knots and loops.

"We played cards and ate cake last night." He laughed.

"And it was awesome. Especially, when I won both rounds of gold fish."

"I'm still waiting on that rematch." He stared at the bag now, waiting for her to pull the tissue paper out and lay eyes on what he got her. "Open it." He nodded towards her lap.

Josh watched as Pem pulled out the tissue paper, piece by piece, at a painfully slow pace. His eyes widened with hers once she noticed what was sitting inside the bag. As soon as her eyes went up and forced themselves into his, the size of coffee cup saucers, his smile exploded like baking soda and vinegar on his face.

"No way!" She pulled out the vinyl case from the bag and studied the front cover. "I've been looking for this for years." She told him in a voice that only exposed excitement.

"I know." Josh knew Pem was a huge Tom Waits fan and he remembered her saying she'd do anything to get him on vinyl. "It's not his best album," He began to tell her as she flipped over the side. "But, the guy at the store said it's got some great underrated tracks of his on it." He tried to explain.

"Nuh uh, _Closing Time_ is one of his sweetest albums. Definitely underrated," She couldn't take her eyes off it. "This is so great," She rested the album on her knees and then extended foreword to wrap Josh in a tight hug. He could smell her natural fragrance of sea salt again; when she held him near, underneath her cotton tee shirt that had a pencil sketch of the Eiffel Tower on it. He wanted to kiss her again, leave his lips over hers and make an imprint so deep that it wouldn't disappear for days, but she pulled away too soon.

Josh fiddled with his set of keys and put the car in drive. He was cautious while backing out of Pem's driveway. Easy Dell Court wasn't a very busy street, but Pem was like precious cargo in his vehicle and subconsciously, he knew he wouldn't forgive himself if something happened.

"This actually has my favorite Tom Waits song on it." She told him while her eyes read over the track list again.

"Yeah?" Josh was happy to hear that. "Which one is that?" His ears concentrated on her while his eyes were glued to the road and what he was doing. He was more alert then a guard dog on a front porch.

_"I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You." _Pem said while tucking the vinyl album back into the bag very carefully and placing it by her purse on the floor of the car.

"What?!" Josh was taken back by what she said and stared down at her for a brief second, his eyes shocked like he'd just been struck by lightening.

"That's what the songs called. _I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You_."

"Oh," Josh thought maybe she was just making a general statement. "You'll have to play it for me sometime."

"I will."

"So, thanks for coming to this with me." Josh said to help him pull his eyes off of her. She was staring out the windshield at the blistering hot summer sun and taking note to how it helped the sky stay blue, even though it was getting later.

"Thanks for inviting me. I'd like to see St. Christopher destroy Belleview at something."

"Care to make a wager, Miss Skinner?" In a silly accent that neither could pin point to a country, Josh teased.

"Let's." Flirtatiously, she pursed her lips together tightly and smiled. "If St. Christopher wins then we listen to the whole Tom Waits album tonight."

"And ff Craig and Eric win then…" Josh tried to think fast, but he liked to be thorough and go through every possibility. "Well, we'll see." Slyly, he said.

"Deal." She nodded. It was sort of risky for her to be making a bet with him that ultimately meant they'd have to spend more time together. What if they bored each other? So far, she was enjoying herself with him, but what if he was already finding her exhausting? Plus, what if he was sort of perverted and if Belleview won, he'd try and force her into doing something experimental and rarely seen out of a Jenna Jameson film. Pem tried to think otherwise and have confident in the whole evening.

XXXX

Drake tossed a hacky sack from his hands that were on his chest up to the ceiling for the umpteenth time. He'd lost track many times ago and now, he was just haggard and brain dead.

"I need to use Josh's laptop." Megan told him while trotting through the room like it was her own.

"Don't you knock?" Drake asked, still staring up at his room's boring white ceiling.

"No." She said, shifting around in their chair and tapping the table while the laptop loaded.

"Where could Josh even be?" Drake dropped the hacky sack and let it roll off his chest and drop straight off his bed to the floor. He sat up reluctantly and stared above Megan, not actually posing the question to her.

"Don't ask me. I don't where Boob 2 spends his time." She shrugged and frowned at the screen that was taking longer than usual to upload. She spun around in the computer chair and noticed how bored Drake really was; he was digging under his nails at the imaginary dirt beneath it.

"Did Pem call the house or anything?" He saw her watching him and asked.

"No." Megan looked around the room. "Maybe, she got wise and decided to drop you."

"Yeah, right." He tilted his head against one shoulder and shot her a dirty look.

Megan giggled, she was feeling extra mischievous. She signed onto the computer and sighed.

"You know, come to think of it, I think I saw Josh shaving before he went on."

"Shaving what?" Drake snarled.

"No kidding." Megan huffed out a little laugh. "But, he was singing, too." That wasn't a lie; she did recall yelling at him to shut up as he was dancing down the hall to whatever tune he was humming.

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm just saying, is it a coincidence that both Pem and Josh are both M.I.A. tonight?" She checked out of her peripheral to see the expression on Drake's face.

The wheels in his brain were clearly turning and for only a second did he appear convinced, then he just viciously shook his head and frowned his whole face together.

"No way," He spat. "Pem wouldn't. She's got taste." He said, not noticing that he was insulting his brother. "She's probably stuck babysitting some daycare twerps or maybe, she has a baseball game tonight." Drake knew he should know, he should know everything about his favorite friend, but he didn't.

"And Josh?"

"Who knows? Probably with Craig and Derek."

"Eric." Megan rolled her eyes and corrected her brother while searching up a topic for her own personal interest.

"Whatever." Drake flopped back down on his mattress and went through a list of people in his head to call. He settled on Trevor. Trevor would know of any parties going on or somewhere to get plastered without any concern.

XXXX

"What did you think?" Josh rose with the rest of the audience, so he could stretch his legs and yawn. He stared down at Pem, who pulled at the frays on her jean skirt before getting up.

"I think St. Christopher creamed Belleview." She chuckled and swayed her hips around to do a little victory dance.

"Hey, Craig breathes deeply which takes time away from his rebuttals." Josh joked.

"Yeah, yeah, Belleview lost, face it." Playfully, she punched his stomach lightly and giggled.

"So, I guess I got to listen to this album now, huh? A deal's a deal." In his shy soft voice, he looked down at her like she was the only person standing in the entire atrium of St. Christopher's. They stood only millimeters away from one another.

"Well, if you have to be getting home," She tried to give him an exit, staring at the green tiled floor of her school and adjusting her purse strap on her shoulder. "It's okay; we can do it some other time." Like the nervous teenager she was, her eyes were suddenly like a soft pastel looking into his intensely like they might melt away if she wasn't careful about how she used them.

"No, let's do it." Josh would take any excuse he could to spend more time with her.

The car ride back to Pem's place was quiet, the radio playing Top 40 hits to fill up the blank space. Josh was sweating and thanked God it was dark out, so she wouldn't be able to see unless they stopped underneath a glowing streetlight. Pem stared out the window at the world around her and wondered if it was natural to be so comfortable with someone suddenly when you'd been around them so many times before and felt nothing at all. Maybe, it was Drake; he had such a big personality that it was possible that they weren't able to see each other with him in the middle. Either way, Drake didn't once enter their minds since the debate.

For the first time, Pem was grateful for luke warm San Diego nights as she led Josh through her unlit and empty house to the sunroom in the back. Her parents were out at her aunt's house with the twins and Pete was out with his football friends.

"I'll join you in a second." Pem took the plastic off the vinyl record and watched as Josh peered out the sunroom's screen door. He let himself out as she put the record on her dad's record player and opened up the window, so they could listen while hanging out outside.

It was warm enough that they could stay outside and enjoy the stars and smoothness that the night brought, but cool enough that a blanket was in order. She wrapped a multicolored knit one over her arms and wandered outside of the lit sunroom to find Josh sitting on the Skinner's hammock, dragging his feet in a patch of grass.

"Can I join ya?" Playfully, she smiled at him.

"Sure." He moved a little to the side to make room. He figured she'd take a seat right next to him. Instead, she tried to balance the hammock with one hand and then laid down right in the middle. Uneasy, it swung to and fro a little. Josh chuckled nervously while trying to do the same and stretching his body out right next to her. There was nothing between them; their sticky skin pressed each other's sides.

Pem unfolded the blanket and laid it over them.

"Good?" She checked, pulling her pupils up in her eyes to try and peek at him.

"Yeah." He whispered, trying to not interrupt the night and listen to the first track of the album. "What song is this?"

"Ol' 55." She, too, spoke quietly, closing her eyes to sink into a great song.

"I thought this was an Eagle's song."

"Tom Waits did it first." She educated him.

"Cool." Josh tried to move his head to the rhythm and get into the song as ardently as she did.

"So, Josh," Pem turned over onto her side and placed held her head up with one hand, staring at him and his still dancing head. "Can I ask a question?"

"That is a question." He smiled and thinly opened his eyes.

"Well, I have another." She laughed at herself.

"What is it, Pem?"

"If Belleview won the debate, what would you have made me do?" She asked like a little girl who'd just heard a legend from a grandparent and wanted clarification.

Josh sighed before answering her. There was an innocence that was so obvious about the two of them, he felt the need to talk to her very delicately, the way you would handle a porcelain doll.

"I wouldn't have _made_ you do anything. " He smiled and assured her. "I would've, however," Nervously, he paused before finishing and glanced down at his feet. He could hardly see them in the darkness; there was nothing but the half moon and sunroom lights illuminating them.

"What?" She pushed on, all sorts of curiosity in her eyes. "What would you do?"

"I'd ask you on a date." He admitted, still staring at his shoes and avoiding eye contact with her.

"Oh?" Pem felt sort of silly and right away went back to lying down on her back.

"Good thing Belleview lost, huh?"

"No, that's not it." She shook her head, staring off at her fence, looking at nothing in particular. "I had just kind have been pretending this was a date, that's all." She finally turned to him and smiled when she noticed he was smiling at her.

"Come here." He kissed her lightly, his hand finding its way to her hip. Their knees knocked together as they curled up a little closer in the already small hammock. "I was kind of thinking, for a first date, I'd rather take you somewhere other then your school atrium for a debate."

"I liked it." She honestly did.

"Then you'd probably like dinner a little better then, huh?" He laughed. "What about at _Fude_?"

"Okay." Pem liked the sound of that.

"So, if I'm to call you tomorrow, by chance, and ask you out on Wednesday, totally out of the blue, you'll say…?"

"Actually, I'd say no." She squished her wet lips together and pushed them to the side, sliding her eyes away.

"What?" Josh's voice broke out of sweetness and spoke over the music. He lurked his head up and stared her down. Had she been just playing games like many other girls? Was this all just a joke? Maybe Drake was in on it?

"I mean, I'd really want, too, but I have a baseball game then."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and we're playing our huge rivals, _Waverley Hornet's_."

"Can I come watch?"

"If you want." She shrugged her shoulders. "What if we did dinner some other time?"

"I work next weekend, but…" Josh laid back down and sunk in comfortably again. He felt compelled to let his hands make themselves comfortable on her legs, as she lay closer to him with her head slightly on his chest. "You can expect a call, though."

XXX

"Where the hell have you been?" Drake flew off the coach and met his brother at the door, staring him right in the face and giving him little room to move. It was exactly midnight, Josh hadn't past curfew at all, Drake had only got in twenty minutes before as well and even though he'd sobered up from drinking in Trevor's basement and playing Xbox, his clothes reeked of spiced Captain Morgan.

"I went to one of Craig and Eric's thing." Josh inched his way around Drake and took off his shoes before walking upstairs to his bedroom. At first, Josh felt guilty for lying to his brother and was in a hurry to get away from him, but as soon as he had his shirt off, he realized that he hadn't lied at all. He did go to one of Craig and Eric's things. Perhaps, seeing Pem would be easier than he'd thought.

"You were out all night, though." Drake followed him up like a lost puppy, a new role for Drake to play. He stood in the doorway and watched his brother find a pair of clean pajamas. While Drake waited for Josh to say something, he heard his cell phone singing from his bed and dashed over to answer it. He was relieved when he saw Pem's number. She had no idea that ignoring him for a whole day would make him like goo in her hand.

"Pem, hey, where have you been?" He answered, strolling out of the room and wandering downstairs to talk to his best friend in private, leaving Josh alone to replay his night over in his head.

XXX

Whoa.

Way longer than I figured.

I hope somebody besides myself enjoyed it.

Read and Review, please!

P.S. Long reviews go nicely with lengthy chapters.


	6. Little Lies

Chapter Six: Little Lies

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Drake & Josh. I only own Pem and the rest of the Skinner family.

Akin to the way Peter Sellers would in _The Pink Panther,_ Pem peered her head out of the woman's bathroom and scanned the gravel front entrance of the Epiphany Spring community baseball field for Josh.

She was fully dressed in her baseball uniform. It was entirely black except for her a white collar, wrists, and ankles in white and their team name "Eagles" and her number were in yellow.

She dragged her eyes to the side and caught a glimpse of Josh coming down and heading to the stands. She wasted no time reaching her hand out and yanking him inside the bathroom.

"Hey!" He yelled out in protest. At first, his face was grief stricken and pale from the shock, but the color automatically came back to his face when he noticed Pem, as flustered as she appeared, he was happy to see her. "Isn't there some old wives tale saying it's bad to see the baseball player in uniform before the game or something?" He asked her like it was a real question. Josh chuckled when he finally got her eyes to settle in on him and then he pulled her close to him and pressed her against him, which caused his back to close any space between him and the wall.

"No, Josh, uh – " She wiggled out of his hands and backed up.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you pulled me in here to make out." He wiped excess water off his lips and apologized, feeling a little embarrassed. His voice right away fell quiet.

"No, I don't want to make out." Pem told him. "Well, I do," She shrugged and could feel his smile re-appear even though she wasn't looking. "But, we're kind of in a pickle."

Josh darted his eyes around the unsanitary girl's washroom. It was the first time in his three minutes in there that he took notice to how grungy it was with water stains over the cement floor, broken and rusting doors. The garbage can was overflowing with toilet paper and paper towel and the paper towel dispenser itself was empty. If he could only pick one thing, he figured the entire room smelt just like a septic tank would.

"Drake is coming." She finally just came out with it.

"What? I thought he had band practice tonight."

"Me too." She squished her lips together to try and think of something brilliant that would save the entire day, but she had to gather with her team in four minutes. "But, he's feeling super guilty about skipping out on my birthday, so he's trying to make it up to me anyway he can. He usually comes to my games, anyways, but I thought today wouldn't be an issue."

"So, what do we do?" Josh asked her.

"You're the brain!" She flailed both her arms out towards him and forced her eyes into the size of truck wheels.

Josh scratched his messy head of thick dark hair and bent his head down to think, "Should I just go?" He looked up at her and saw instantly that she was opposed to that idea. It meant something to Pem that Josh took an interest in what interested her. "I mean, if this is too difficult, I know we said we weren't going to tell Drake for a while, so…"

"No, I can think of something. Hold on." Pem felt the pressure glaring down on her with the strong fluorescent lights of the bathroom. She knelt down to unzip her baseball bag in order to get her cell phone. "I'm just going to text Alice, so she can tell coach I'm late or something."

"Pem," Josh sighed. "It's not that important." He reached for her shoulder to pull her up, but she stayed down and gasped. "What? What is it? Did I squeeze too hard?"

"No, no, I have the perfect idea." She grabbed a big ball of a sweatshirt of her bag and stood up to throw at Josh.

"What's this?" He unfolded it and held it against his polo covered chest. "Is it a duvet cover?" He asked, the shirt nearly swallowed him, it was so huge.

"No, it was freezing in my house this morning, so I wore Pete's hoodie on the way to school. It's perfect keep the hood up and he'll never know it's you."

"Pem, it's boiling out! I appreciate your ingenuity, but maybe I could just sit with him and say I wanted to hang out or something."

"Josh," Her voice softened. "You know Drake, he'll go bananas if he sees us and I'll be giving you the eyes, it'll be obvious."

"Yeah, you do look really good in that uniform." He eyed her up and down. "Wait! The eyes? When do you give me _the eyes_?"

"Just put on the hoodie." She shook her head before rolling her eyes. Pem gave him a quick little kiss on the cheek before grabbing her bag and leaving Josh alone in the girl's washroom with a happy face rarely seen out of a Wal-Mart commercial on.

XXX

"I can't believe you dragged me to this stupid thing." Sitting with her legs crossed and a Sprite can in one hand, Megan let her eyes wandered away from the baseball game playing in front of her like a boring movie. "Do you even understand this game?"

"Shut up." Drake internally cursed his parent's for making him look after his little sister while they went out grocery shopping. It was important to him to get Pem back on his good side, plus most of the girls on her baseball team were gorgeous in a really raw way and everyone looked better in a sport's uniform. "And yes, I understand baseball; you hit a ball and run, whatever."

"That's not exactly all it is." Megan said, while sitting up on the edge of the seat and looking around at her surroundings. Her brother could be so thick sometimes, she just tuned him out. At the very bottom of the bleachers, Megan laughed at whoever was sitting there, roasting under the sun in a three sizes two big hoodie with the hoodie up. She cackled and grinned at the person. "What a loser." She snarled under her breath. Very few people were as stupid as to do something like that, not even Drake would dress that way on such a hot June afternoon. The only other person she could think of was Josh, just in case, she tilted her head all the way to the side and looked under the seat of the bleachers. She could see the initials: _J.N._, written in black permanent very clearly on the back of the shoe.

_As if. _ Megan thought to herself. She took the last sip from her can of soda and jumped to her feet.

"I'll be right back." This was an opportunity just screaming to be seized. She told Drake while trying to walk past his legs.

"Where are you going?"

"To the washroom." She lied and told him like he was stupid to ask.

"Well," Drake knew he probably shouldn't let Megan wander off in the park full of strangers, but he couldn't think of a single person who would want to kidnap her in the first place. "Okay, but hurry up." He lifted up his knees, so she could squeeze through. Right away, he returned his eyes to the game.

"Go Pem!" Behind him Patricia Skinner screamed. "Hi Drake." She waved down at him and then corralled him to come sit with her and the twins. "We missed you at the last two games." She said while sliding over to make room for him.

Drake thought this was Pem's first game of the season. He tried to think back at what he could've been doing the night's of her other games, he didn't know what it was he'd been busy with, but he figured it was probably important.

With Drake occupied by Mrs. Skinner, Megan had no problem sliding next to the hooded man without being seen. She yanked his hood down and laughed.

"What do we have here? A boob?"

"Megan!" Josh hollered. He was in complete shock to see his little step-sister sitting next to him. "What are you doing here?" He asked in a sharp whisper while pulling the hood back up.

"Why are you dressed like you should be in an Igloo?" She asked him a question right back.

Josh's sigh was heavy, he knew there was no lying to Megan, she always found things out. She was a wizard when it came to prying and spying.

"Promise not to tell Drake?" Josh looked around and asked, crouching down to bring his sweating face nearer to her.

"That you're sneaking around with Pem?" Megan had already placed it together. "Maybe."

"What? How did you know?" He sat up straight and marveled at her. She was absolutely astounding. "And why are you here?"

"First of all, you're not very secretive. I looked through your outgoing calls on your phone and all your texts." That was news to Josh, how did she even take his phone? He almost always had it with him. "And, Drake dragged me."

"Figures." Josh looked foreword again, clapping his hands as the third inning ended. "Will you promise not to tell Drake?"

"If you pay me." Megan was very nonchalant about it, she treated the whole thing like no big deal.

"No."

"Then, I'll read your texts to Drake when we get home."

"No." Josh pulled her back down before she could walk away. "How much?" He very hesitantly asked his diabolic sister.

"Ten bucks a day."

"What?" Josh couldn't believe it.

"Or you never get to see Pem again." She threatened.

"Fine." Josh fished his wallet out of the back pocket of his pants. He opened it up and looked through the first flap. "I only have," He counted a two bills and some change in his clammy palm. "Seven fifty."

"And now you have none." She swiped it up in her dainty hand and took off to go sit back with Drake and secretly, chuckle over her new information.

XXXX

"Awesome game, Pembrooke!" Patricia gave her only daughter a tight squeeze, bending down so Pem wouldn't have to stand too tall on her tip toes.

"Yeah, 12 – 9. Good job." Drake draped his arm over her shoulder once her mom relinquished her out of her embrace.

"Thanks for coming." Pem told him and then dropped her bag for one of her younger brothers to carry to their car.

"You kidding? I wouldn't have missed it!" Drake exclaimed, overzealously.

"And, Meg, thanks for coming too."

"No, it was great." Megan winked at her discretely. In her head, she was chanting "_I know something you don't know, I know something you don't know." _ Megan Parker was fully in her element.

"So, we're still on for later tonight?" Drake checked, fishing his keys out of his jeans and sliding his hand off of Pem's shoulder.

"Yeah, I just want to go home and shower and stuff." She shrugged, tucking stray hairs behind her ear. Her whole head was a flat mess since she'd taken off her baseball hat.

"That's okay. I've got brand practice till nine."

"Just come by, whatever." Pem shrugged. "See you!" She waved her mom and little brothers off before turning around to find Josh, who was hopefully still in incognito.

She found him leaning against a chain fence, his head still underneath the hoodie and facing down to watch his shoes fiddle in the patch of dead grass. She ran over to him, with slip-on's instead of her baseball clets, and threw her arms around him.

"We won!" She hollered loudly and proudly. She didn't have to say anything, her smile could've held the conversation.

"I saw." Laughing, he very softly assured her.

"We got the_ Hornet's_!" She yelled and then went to hug him closer.

Drake had turned around before entering the parking lot, just to check on Pem. Things had bounced back to normal with them as they always did. She always granted him forgiveness when he made a mess of something, but this time the guilty stayed longer inside his stomach. He wanted to believe that the feeling was coming from hunger, but he knew the truth and he hated it.

His watchful eyes stared at her holding onto someone who was very obviously a boy. He couldn't make out the face though; he was wearing a bulky hoodie, but had his head down. The guy's hair was a thick patch of dark almost pubic hair like hair, it reminded him a lot of his brother's.

"What's taking you?" Megan ran back to her brother and pulled on his arm. "Let's go."

Drake shook off his strange unwelcomed feeling and peeled his eyes off Pem and the stranger to wander away to his mom's car with Megan.

"Finally, I can take off this sweater." Josh pulled the sweatshirt off and revealed his aqua colored polo which was soaked in sweat. "Oh, that's attractive." He looked down at his chest and then his arms. He couldn't hide the truth; he'd precipitated enough to hydrate a small colony.

"Well, we can just drive through somewhere, if you're embarrassed."

"You want drive through? I thought our first date was going to be a little more…not fast food."

"This isn't our first date, though," Flirtatiously, she informed him and cupped his hand in hers.

'It isn't?"

"No, this is the meeting before the first date. You know, you come to my baseball game, we eat McDonald's, make sure it's worth getting into anything."

"Oh yeah? How am I doing so far?" Their hands parted, as she unlocked the passenger side of her car to let him in.

"You've got some potential." She said in a convincing voice on her way over to the driver's seat.

XXXX

Read & Review. I've got some big plans coming up for the next chapter.

PS. Big reviews are sweeter **than ice cream sundaes.**

_Little Lies – Fleetwood Mac_


	7. Top Of The World

"Thanks again for driving me home

Chapter Seven: Top Of The World

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Drake & Josh or anything affiliated with it. I do own the character, Pem Skinner, however. **

_Enjoy! _

"Thanks again for driving me home." Pem's glossed lips sat in a smile as she glanced over at Josh in the passenger seat before unbuckling her seatbelt.

"No problem." Josh told her truthfully. It had been two weeks since their first actual date and ever since they'd been enjoying anytime they got to see one another. Due to Pem's creativity, Josh's intelligence, and both their knowledge of Drake, they'd figured out the perfect ways of seeing one another without him catching on. Today, Josh had told Drake that he was staying after school to study for his upcoming chemistry exam with Craig and Eric that's why he couldn't drive him home. Drake thought nothing of it; it wasn't anything unusual for Josh to stay after school for a reason that would bore him.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" Josh made small conversation with her as he watched her adjust her uniform sweater and tie.

"Uh, working the daycare until sevenish." She pointed at her house through the windshield and then popped open the passenger seat door. "Then, Drake's coming over and we were going to jam, probably play Pac Man." Pem liked that she could have her cake and eat it with a glass of milk. She could kiss Josh and enjoy his company without sacrificing her friendship with Drake. It was easy for her to balance the two of boys.

"Sounds like an eventful night."

"You never know with Drake," She laughed. "What about you? Studying for exams?"

"Yeah, last one on Friday." He grinned; just thinking about summer break was enough to make him want to dance in his chair.

"When you're done, we should celebrate. I'll make you dinner or something."

"You'll make me dinner?" He raised one eyebrow at her. "That sounds like an interesting endeavor."

"Well, I may just order a pizza, but I'll make iced tea."

"A for effort."

"That's my thinking." She met him halfway to give him a quick kiss before rushing inside to look after the twelve rascals that terrorized her home while their parents went off for the day to work normal jobs. "See you."

"Wait, Pem," Josh caught her right before she closed the door. She held onto the top of it and bent down to look through the opening. "After my exam on Friday, I think we should tell Drake."

"What?" She really didn't see that coming.

"We've been seeing each other for over two weeks now, if you include your birthday, and I want to ask you to be my girlfriend – "

"Thanks for the warning." Pem interrupted him with a little giggle. Josh loved when she giggled because her whole face would smush together and her eyes would shape like upside down moons, just like Sailor Moon's did on television.

"But, I don't want to do this behind Drake's back." Josh finished with a very stern face. "I want to be able to take you out in public without worrying about running into him. I want to tell my family, I want to tell my friends."

"That all makes sense, Josh, but he's going to be so livid."

"He's my brother, Pem, and your best friend. You know him, he can surprise you."

"He never surprises me." Pem spoke the truth, she knew him to an absolute T.

"Look, I got to go by the Premiere before four to pick up my paycheck, but let's talk about this on Friday, okay?"

"Okay." She closed the door behind her and waved him goodbye while running to her garage door to open up.

XXX

"You're never going to beat me, Pem, quit now." Drake taunted his friend, crawling right into her face with a goofy grin and sticking out his tongue to try and make her laugh. He hoped the twenty marshmallows she was holding in her overcrowded mouth would all fall out, one by one, but so far, she was deep in concentration. Pem reached around Drake and grabbed one chocolate marshmallow to try and make room for it. "Pem, have some dignity, just concede!" He laid back, balancing all his weight on the palm of his hands. He watched in amazement as his best friend popped in marshmallow after marshmallow into her mouth until she was holding thirty inside safely. "This is sick." He uttered.

Pem couldn't keep her giggle silent anymore. She took her two fists and punched in both her cheeks, spitting out most of the marshmallows with a big smile in her face. She swallowed the last few and then let her laughter roam free.

"I had room for more, but I didn't want to completely bruise your ego." She rolled her eyes and taunted him. She chewed on another marshmallow while Drake moved back to sitting next to her on the floor rug in Skinner's never finished basement.

"Yeah, whatever, you win." A sore loser, Drake distracted himself with a crate of Pem's vinyl records. He flipped through them slowly and drinking from the mickey of white rum that Pem's brother bought them to share.

"I'm going to go get some Mocha Cola to mix with that." Pem couldn't stand the taste of alcohol alone, unless it was a fruity cooler or margarita. "And you know," She jumped onto the bottom stair. "Wash the taste of victory out of my mouth." She laughed and then darted up the stairs to her kitchen.

Quietly, Drake chuckled alone before pulling out a Tom Waits album from the back of the crate. Pem had never organized her records before; it was weird to find Tom Waits after Violent Femmes and before the Who. He ignored it and looked over the tracks on the back cover. She'd been ranting about finding Tom Waits on vinyl for what felt like eons to Drake. He climbed up off his feet and took off the _Horses _album by_ Patti Smith _they'd been listening to and exchanged it with the Tom Waits record. He let the first song come out and smoothly, closing his eyes to the melody while picking up the mickey to drink from. He found Pem's phone buzzing next to the small bottle. They'd been friends forever, he'd heard her talk about tampons with her mom, nothing was sacred between them, so he picked up her phone and began to read her new next message.

**FR: Alice Brossard**

**MSG:**

**Hey hon! A bunch of us our going to **

**A movie after the game Friday! **

**I know you're busy with your boy!**

**But, he can come too! **

**Josh + Pem! So cute. **

**Peace!**

Empty, that's what Drake's mind was, as empty as all his high school teacher's thought it was. He didn't even think that the possibility of this boy being his brother, it was the fact that it was any guy. He'd never said it and he knew it wasn't up to him, but he didn't like Pem dating. That idea made a vein form in the center of his forehead.

"I got the cola!" Pem held a big 2L bottle that had yet to be opened of Mocha Cola in her hand as she charged down the basement stairs. She stopped right in her tracks at the sound of Tom Waits coming from the record player. "You found the album?"

Drake still had her cell phone opened in his hand, hiding it behind his back for safety.

"Yeah, where'd you find it?"

Pem couldn't remember what store Josh said he found it in or if he even did.

"Uh, Spinner's." She just picked the first music store that came into her head.

"Really? We go there all the time, I've never seen it." He squished his lips together to show his curiosity.

"Well, you really have to dig there." She walked past him and filled up her empty glass with mostly coke and then took the mickey off the floor by his feet and adding a little bit in to mix.

"I guess." Drake watched her from behind while she took a little sip from her favorite cup. It had Gonzo from _The Muppets _on it. He had been faded from a million cycles through the dishwasher, but it was a little piece of nostalgia for her. "Or did Josh find it for you?"

"What?!" She spun around and dripped the drink from her mouth over her lips.

"So, there is a guy!" Drake held out her cell phone and pushed it right into her face.

"You went through my phone pictures!" Pem sounded shocked, opening up one of the snapshots she and Josh had taken in her car, their foreheads pressing together and lips locked together ardently.

"No, you got a text from Alice and I read it." He corrected. "Should I have gone through your pictures?" He grabbed the phone back from her viciously. He wanted to get a look at this guy, who, in Drake's mind, looked a tool with bleach blonde hair that he spiked and a G-Unit tee shirt on. Instead, he stared down at the picture of Pem with her lips over his brother. His skin lost all colors and he couldn't move his eyes away as much as he knew he should. He just went through the next two photos, their heads knocking together in each one, one with smiles on their faces and the other Pem had her tongue stuck out. "Are you joking?"

"Drake, I was going to tell you after exams." She couldn't think of anything else to say.

"It all makes sense now." He closed her phone and slipped it in the pocket of his jeans. He grabbed the mickey from next to the record player where Pem had left it and took a huge gulp. "Josh alphabetized your albums, you're wearing red more because it's his favorite color, and he bought you Tom Waits, didn't he?" Drake grabbed the case and held it up in the air. Pem just watched her friend as he wound himself up to unleash it in one big explosion. She was choked with her lips parted, taking in no oxygen purposely. She was frozen while watching Drake pace. "Damnit, Pem!" He slapped the case against the counter. "That was our thing!" He yelled and got right in her face with his dark eyes cold and enlarging before her. She could smell the rum on his mouth as he breathed deeply before her. "He doesn't know dick about music! I buy you music!" He pointed to himself, poking his chest harshly. "That's our thing!"

"Drake, we were going to tell you, it just happened."

"Oh please, you're just punishing me." He snarled before taking another swig from the mickey.

"Punishing you?" Pem didn't understand.

"For missing your birthday! I apologized!"

"This isn't punishment, Drake, yeah, it might not have happened if you'd been there on my birthday, but this isn't retaliation."

"How did this happen, Pem? Enlighten me." He licked his lips and crossed his arms over his chest, the bottle hanging from one of his hands. Pem watched it with concern that it might fall and smash all over the floor into a million little sharp pieces.

She was hesitant to tell him, she wanted to make up some kind of story.

"When I hadn't heard from you on my birthday, I went over to your house because I was worried you got in a car crash or something, you are a horrible drive, you know, and – "

"Not the time to insult me." He shot.

"Anyways, Josh was there and he was just being so sweet and we just kissed."

"Who kissed who?"

"I kissed him." She decided to be upfront and honest about it though she wanted to cry as soon as Drake let a sigh out and bent his head down. "I was hurt, Drake!" She yelled and walked right up to him, holding each one of his shoulders with one hand. He tried his hardest to avoid making eye contact with her. "You chose getting laid over my birthday and, Josh was the first guy I felt something with. I mean, I've gone on dates before and the guys…"

"You've gone on dates?" This was all news to Drake. "What?" He stepped back out of her reach, pulling the needle off the record so he could hear her clearly.

"Yes, and Drake, I hate them all. I never have a good time because I compare every guy to you. I have so much fun with you, that they're all boring, and then Josh is brand new, he's like nobody else."

"He's Josh!" Drake exclaimed. "He's my brother! You're my best friend!"

"Please, just sleep this off, Drake? We can talk about it tomorrow, but don't get mad at Josh. He wanted to tell you."

"Then, why didn't he?"

"I asked him not, too." She admitted. "And he has his last exam soon, don't distract him, don't get angry."

"You're putting Josh's feelings before mine?" Drake was aghast. As if the knife she'd wedged into his chest didn't hurt enough, she twisted it counter clock wise and dug a little deeper. "Pem, I don't have a fucking clue who you are right now." He grabbed the mickey and wandered upstairs to slip on his shoes.

She wanted to follow him, but she knew better than that. He needed to cool off on his own. If she continued to scream in his face, he'd just become more enraged. She listened to her front door slam from the basement and then put the record back on. She closed her eyes while finishing her drink and listening to Tom Waits. She wondered how he'd be able to bike ride home when he was drunk.

XXXX

Read and review, please.

I'm not sure what I think of this chapter, I just let it come out as it did without too much pre- thinking. Suggestions, comments, long reviews are always appreciated. Anything, but flames!

TOP OF THE WORLD – KATE VOGELE

**Thanks! **


	8. Dizzy

Chapter Eight: Dizzy

Author's Note: I'm so sorry about the hiatus. I don't really have much of an excuse to give you guys. I did accidentally uninstall my Microsoft word, but after that, I was just dry and had a little writer's block, but I'm back now! I'm so sorry!

His face bruised from crashing drunkenly into three sets of bushes and onto the street several times, Drake swaggered and swayed up his driveway, tossing his bicycle on his lawn, the chain broken. He tripped over his feet on his way up to the steps and smashed his hand against the doorbell. There was no way, he was going to be able to figure out how to use the doorknob in the state he was in and he knew that for a fact.

He'd finished the whole bottle white rum on his way home, always saving it from the demise that would come if it smashed against the concrete. He spilt a little on the collar of his shirt causing him to reek of the drink, also the smell of his breath could make small children run and roses wilt.

"What in the world?" Audrey Parker- Nichols opened the door in her pajamas and a pink terry cloth robe. She'd been sleeping since it was nearly one in the morning. She looked out her door and saw nothing until she felt her son's hand grab her bare foot while he was trying to crawl inside. "Drake Parker, you've got some major explaining to do!" Audrey was no stranger to being a teenager, she was never the angel child of her own family, so she could tell with one look and sniff that her son was plain and simply: drunk.

She reached down and lifted Drake onto his feet by yanking his arms upwards. She slammed the door behind him, but as soon as she turned around to give him a lecture, he was back on the ground.

"Where's Josh, huh?" Drake hiccupped, the look of anger still alive in his brown eyes. "We're going to…_tussle_." He mocked his step-brother by using one of his popular words. Drake attempted to climb onto his feet and hold his fists up in front of his face to fight, but he just tripped backwards and crashed against the wall.

"What is all this racket all about?" In only his boxers and nothing else, Walter emerged from his bedroom and into the light of the hallway. "What the hell?" He noticed Drake out cold against the wall and Audrey, who stood pale and at a loss for words.

"Is he drunk?" Walter asked, throwing his arms open.

"What do you think?" Audrey frowned and shook her head. "Let's get him upstairs." She moved towards her son to help him up to his bedroom, but Walter held her back, grabbing her shoulder lightly.

"No, leave him here."

"Walter." She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for him to voice his reason. Drake's eyes began to flutter back open.

"Hey Walter, bud." A stupid smile broke onto his face, crooked and chapped. He tried waving at his step dad, but it didn't get come through. "Oh, put a shirt on man." Drake gagged a little and he wasn't sure if it was the alcohol swashing around in his body or the sight of Walter in his underwear. Before, anybody could react, Drake's mouth was wide open and burning white rum came up with sticky bits of what could be marshmallows and some 

bits and chunks of hot dogs he and Pem had grabbed from a vendor in the park earlier. Drake had never had a steel stomach and at most parties where he'd get plastered, he'd end up over a toilet or the curb puking everything out, tonight was no different. All his vomit rolled down his shirt and on his jeans a little. The remains were left on the floor and Walter's bare feet.

"Oops." He cupped his mouth with one hand and started to pass out again, his soggy puke stained hand in his cherished head of hair.

The commotion from downstairs woke up both Megan and Josh, who usually had no problem sleeping soundly.

"Gross!" Megan said when she noticed Josh had stepped right in a tiny pool of Drake's vomit. "What's with the boob?" Megan had been sheltered from seeing Drake drunk before and she had no memories of seeing other people sick from alcohol, except for on the television.

"Megan, go back to bed." Audrey attempted to take charge of both her family and the situation. "Walter, will you take Drake to the bathroom? Try to get him undressed." She voiced a list of demands. "Josh, go grab paper towels and a mop, we're going to clean this up."

"I'm on it." Josh made a quick dash into the kitchen, worried about his brother, but also used to seeing Drake this way. Usually, Drake had no problem making a drunken entrance up into their bedroom and it was up to Josh to look after him all on his own.

"This sucks." Bummed out that she had to miss all the action, Megan stomped upstairs, stepping on the bottom of her fleece pajama pants.

Walter picked up Drake and helped him walk into the bathroom by holding him against his chest and basically tossing him over the toilet, his face smashing against the seat, drool pouring from his lips the same way it hung out of a dog's mouth on scorching summer afternoons.

"Drake, what is this all about?" Walter huffed while trying to pull his dirty shirt off of him. Drake was already sweating out the rest of the alcohol, his chest all sticky and clammy. "Huh? Drunk on Wendsday night? You've got school tomorrow, an exam!"

"It's Josh's fault." Drake murmured, his lips attached to the toilet seat.

"How?"

"He kisses Pem."

"What?" Walter didn't comprehend.

"Josh kiss kiss Pem." Words were not Drake's strong suit in general, but the booze made it much tougher for him to string a sentence together.

XXX

"Josh," On her knees, wiping up some puke residue from her wooden floor, Audrey tried to get to the bottom of everything. "Drake said something about fighting with you. Did you guys get in an argument or something?"

"No." Josh, who was concentrating on mopping, didn't know what that could've been all about.

"He was at Pem's tonight and he came home, all drunk, saying he wants to tussle with you or something." She looked up, blowing a strand of hair of out of her exhausted eyes.

"Oh." Josh's voice dropped, wondering if, maybe, Pem had told Drake, even when they'd agreed to wait until after their exams were through.

"Do you know something I should?" Audrey climbed onto her feet and walked into the kitchen to throw out the paper towel. "Josh, tell me." She stood in the doorway of the kitchen and waited for Josh to let everything out. He always had a better grip on honesty then his brother did.

"I don't know if this is what it's about, but, Pem and I, we've kind of been…"

"What?" Audrey wanted answers.

"I mean, it hasn't been long, just a couple weeks, but, we've been…"

"Josh, do you need to have the talk?" She tightened her eyes and stepped closer to him, rubbing one of his arms.

"No! No!" He jumped back almost slipping on the spot he'd just mopped. "We're just seeing each other, dating, I don't know, we're not doing that, no, no!" He waved his hands in front of his face wildly and tried to assure Audrey. "We're not, I swear."

"Okay, well, that's comforting to hear." Audrey let out a sigh of exasperation and wandered to her living room to flop down and relax on the couch. Slowly, following her, Josh did the same, right beside his step-mom. "There's no rush, Josh, and if you and Pem ever decide to, I can…we can talk, if you want."

"Wow, I think this surpasses uncomfortable." Josh thought maybe he'd hurl.

"Josh, you do know Pem is Drake's best friend? They've been practically linked since daycare."

"I know. Trust me; if I could control this, it wouldn't be happening."

"Drake is probably just hurt, if he knows, and if he doesn't know, you can't hide it from him. As his brother and best friend, you guys owe it to him to tell him."

"We were going to after exams."

"Good luck on yours tomorrow, by the way." She nudged him in the ribs and rolled her eyes. "How about we deal with this tomorrow?"

"That sounds good."

"Goodnight, hon." Audrey gave Josh a goodnight kiss and headed off to the washroom to free Walter from drunk Drake duty. Sluggishly, Josh made his way back upstairs and into his bed.

**XXX**

"How you feelin', baby?" Audrey sat on the edge of her bathtub, rubbing her son's head with a damp towel. "Do you think there's much more left?" She watched him flush the toilet and the last of what had been sitting in the pit of his stomach. Drake just shook his head and ached. "Is this about Pem?" She asked, sweetly.

Drake looked up and into his mom's caring eyes for a moment, surprised by her knowledge, and then just bowed his head down on her knee. He really wished he had left the bottle of white rum at Pem's house.

"We'll talk tomorrow."

**XXX**

Another thing Pem and Josh had in common was a mutual love for half days. Thanks to exams, once you'd finished writing yours, you could head home with the assumption that you would spend the rest of the afternoon studying for your next one.

Josh walked straight out of school after finishing up his second last exam, all the was left was History on Friday, and he didn't mind History, as far as he could tell it was going to be a breeze. However, he wasn't sure how he had done on that exam, he was sleep-deprived and concerned about his brother, who hung over and sore, didn't say a word or even glance at his brother all morning. Drake took the car to school without telling Josh, leaving him to catch the public transit.

Pem sat behind the wheel of her Malibu; she had finished her last exam on Tuesday and had already begun her summer break. She was dressed in her favorite thick strapped tank top that read "_Stressed backwards spells Desserts_" in big bubble letters and a pair of grey sweatpant like shorts. She'd spent the morning helping out at her mom's daycare and jogged around her neighborhood before going to surprise Josh at school.

As soon as she spotted him entering the parking lot, she honked at him. He jumped out of his skin and lost balance, leaving him to tumble down on the cement and squeal in fear.

"Josh!" She shouted while jumping out from behind the wheel and crouching down next to him. "Are you alright? I'm sorry; I was trying to surprise you."

"Well, you were successful." He groaned.

"I'm sorry." She picked him up with the help of her hand and then dusted a little dirt of his pant leg. "I thought I could give you a ride home after your exam and we could talk."

"About last night?"

"Yeah, I didn't know if Drake had told you." She walked back to her car door and noticed that Josh walked right past. "Josh."

"He's my brother, Pem; I can't believe I've been lying to him."

"Hey, he's my best friend; this is hard for me, too!" She called over the hood of her car.

"Is that why you told him last night? You were so against it before. You wanted to talk it over more and think. You wanted to wait!"

"He found out on his own."

"How?"

"He went through my text messages, okay? I didn't want to make things weird between you guys. I didn't ask for this!"

"Okay, okay," Josh walked right over to her and wrapped her up inside his arms. She was visibly upset and he hated arguing anyways. "He came home plastered last night." Josh told her as soon as they pulled apart.

"Is he okay? I guess, your parents are pissed."

"Yeah." Josh slid into the passenger seat and seat belted himself in, safely. "Drake won't even talk to me."

"Yeah, " Pem put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking spot, looking behind her the whole time. "He was really angry when he left my house. He said he didn't even know who I was anymore, that I was punishing him."

"Pem, I wish things were different." Josh told her.

"I don't." She said very honestly, surprising Josh again. His eyes widened and he watched her, hoping she'd carry on with a reason why. "I mean, yeah, Drake is my best friend and I don't want to hurt him ever, but I've had a lot of fun with this last little while and I wouldn't take that back just to please Drake or make things easier."

"I guess so." Drake rolled down his window to let in a little more cool air.

"Anything worth having is worth fighting for." Pem quoted something she'd heard her oldest brother say before about football season.

"You're right." Josh leaned in and kissed her, sweetly, as they waited for an opening to drive onto the road.

Drake had parked in the other parking lot and was crossing the street on his way to it, since he'd just been released out of his exam. He had a big baggy shirt on and a thin pair of sweatpants on. His body was sore and completely hangover, he was groggy and just wanted to be comfortable, he didn't care at all about fashion today. He had a pair of white wayfer's on over his eyes and one book in his hand, slapping against his thigh as he walked. He was going to wave to the Chevy Malibu for stopping and letting him pass, but when he focused in on the kissing couple behind the windshield, a pang of anger kicked his gut.

"Get a room!" He kicked the front of Pem's car and hollered.

Josh and Pem immediately pulled apart and stared at their laps, ashamed and feeling very sympathetic towards Drake. Pem thought she was going to cry until she felt Josh's hand squeeze her bare knee.

"Let's grab some ice cream before you take me home, how about?"

"Okay." Meekly, she agreed and drove away from Belleview High.

**XXX**

The two brothers ignored one another for the rest of the afternoon. Drake took refuge up in the bedroom, playing guitar more than studying and stewing in his anger and hangover. Josh, on the other hand, spread his work all over the dining room table and took to studying like a fish to water, absorbing all the information he could and quizzing himself without mercy.

It wasn't until his parents came home and needed the dining room table for dinner that Josh had to wander upstairs and study on top of his bed.

He had every intention of just ignoring Drake, letting him deal with whatever he was feeling on his own, but the noise of his wailing guitar was making it really difficult for Josh to concentrate on his task.

"Drake, could you turn it down a bit?" He asked over the noise, but Drake just took that as his invitation to break into a noisy guitar solo, moving the volume dial louder.

"Come on, man, you should be studying, too." Josh tried again, but Drake didn't acknowledge him or his request.

Josh grabbed his squishiest pillow and wrapped it over his head, pushing it against his ears to try and drown out the sound around him. He read over his textbook, the same sentence over and over again until he just couldn't take it. He marched in a straight line right behind his brother and grabbed the neck of his guitar in his hand, pulling it out of Drake's grip.

"Fuck off, man!" Drake turned around and pushed his hand into his brother's shoulder.

"Drake, just say it, you hate me, whatever, but for the love of God, turn your music off!" Josh couldn't believe how identical he sounded to his father.

"I will."

"Thank you." Josh handed the guitar back and turned around, happy that he got what he wanted.

"If you stop seeing Pem."

On his heels, he spun around and was ready to rebut. He looked Drake in the eyes and dropped his mouth to say something, but that's when he realized how serious Drake was and for the first time, Josh stood his ground.

"No."

"Then the music stays on." Drake went back to strumming, but Josh grabbed it again.

"Really? Are you going to make me choose? Is it really you or Pem? I can't have both."

"Yeah, you go with her we are no longer brothers."

Josh didn't need to take a moment, he knew what his decision was and even though, he wished he could have both Pem and Drake, his head and heart were screaming and he knew which one was right.

"Then, I choose Pem."

Drake's heart sank, but he made sure Josh couldn't tell at all. Instead, he just turned up his amp and let his guitar do all the talking.

XXXX

Oh, why can't we all just get along?

Don't lose hope, I've got the next chapter ready and I have many ideas a-brewin'.

Reviews, long ones, especially, are super appreciated.

Dizzy – Jimmy Eat World


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